* 1 cup cooked black beans (organic canned or dried and then soaked and cooked in the crockpot)

* 8 whole-grain 5" to 6" corn tortillas,

* Recommended toppings: Tomatoes, avocado and cilantro

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl thoroughly combine the chicken, cheese, water, spices, and juice of 1 lime (or eye ball more if you want). Stir well then add black beans and toss gently so you don't smash the beans up!

3. On a large baking sheet lay the tortillas out in one even layer. You will probably need more than one baking sheet.

4. Evenly distribute the chicken mixture on top of the 8 tortillas (the top layer should be about ½" tall) and bake until cheese begins to brown, about 12 to 13 minutes.

5. Squeeze the remaining lime juice, to taste, on top of the cooked tostadas and serve warm with diced tomatoes and avocado, and cilantro leaves.

**tips: cut into pizza triangles;

serve with some cilantro lime rice;

WORKING/BUSY MOMS: Make the chicken/cheese/spice/bean mixture the night before then simply top it on the tortillas 15-20 minutes before mealtime for a SUPER quick and healthy meal

Serves: 4 people (so we double)

Difficult: 1 out of 5; for a dinner, it doesn't get much easier than this. The make ahead option makes this meal super appealing too!

Timing: 15 months of its chopped up well!

Epicutie Rating:

Little Joy: yummy in the yummy--always easy to please at meals she gobbled up two toastadas!

Little Asher: somewhat yummy--despite being the tough critique he still ate half a tostada with no complaints. He wasn't chomping at the bit for more, but was not gagging either. Gagging is common when he has beans!

Little Juliette: yummy in the tummy; while we had to cut hers quite a bit she ended up eating an entire tostada. I think she would have eaten more but she got a sharp piece of tortilla and then seemed discouraged.

Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute about 5 minutes until softened.

Add garlic and flour stirring constantly for 1-2 more minutes until fragrant.

Add chicken stock, chicken, and kale.

Increase heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes until flavors are combined and veggies are tender.

After the soup has fully simmered, Stir in salt, pepper, rosemary, parsley and thyme.

Cover and begin to cook pasta until al dente.

IMMEDIATELY after pasta is al dente, drain and add to soup (if you let the orzo sit it gets clumpy and soaks up all the water-yuck)

ENJOY THE DELICIOUSNESS

Tip: Chop the veggies the night before serving and refrigerate until ready to use!

Timing: Little Juliette had this at a few days shy of 8 months coarsely chopped up. I added extra steamed carrots for her to make it thicker and easier to spoon feed her. For a child to self feed this, I would say 18 months depending on how well they self feed.

Difficulty: 2 of 5. As far as soups go, this is pretty easy.

Epicutie Rating:Little Joy, Asher and Juliette: Yummy in the Tummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Extra carrots for Little Juliette's Soup

Pre Chopped Veggies

Little Juliette's Soup to be Chopped

Chopped and ready for her!

SHE COULD NOT GET ENOUGH! She kept signing more as soon as the food hit her mouth!

Little Joy and Asher had smile face toast with their soup---the face is Bell Pepper :)

Remove any giblets from the chicken and stuff the cavity with lemon, apple and rosemary.

Rub the spice mixture all over. Be sure to put some of the spices inside the cavity and under the skin covering the breasts.

Put prepared chicken on top of the onions in the slow cooker, toss a few rosemary sprigs on top, cover it, and turn it on to high. There is no need to add any liquid.

Cook for 4 – 5 hours on high (for a 3 or 4 pound chicken) or until the chicken is falling off the bone.

Leave all the juices from the chicken in the crock pot so you can make the easiest stock EVER overnight

Ingredients for STOCK

Bones and onion from above (remove all the chicken from the bones)

Carrots

Celery

Salt

Pepper

Water

Steps for STOCK

After eating the chicken and removing the meat from the bones place the bones back into the crockpot

Break up the carrots and celery by hand into large chunks--no need to cut or peel!

Fill the crock up with water

Add salt and pepper to taste

Turn to low and allow to simmer over night--We usually eat the whole chicken with sides for dinner then I make the stock overnight. The next morning I remove the lid and crank it up to high until noon to concentrate the flavor some---this is optional. The stock is ready the next morning.

DONE! You can refrigerate the stock for several days or freeze it---I use it right away in a soup!

My stock the next morning

Timing: 7/8 Months; The chicken is super soft. If you are uncomfortable offering it as a finger food pulse it in a food chopper for a few seconds.

Difficulty: 2
of 5--for what you get in return on making this, its EASY!

Epicutie Ratings

Little Joy: Somewhat Yummy--They eat the chicken just fine, but at the end of the day she could take or leave it.

Little Asher: Somewhat Yummy--He loved this the first few times it was served but now as with many things he tries to exert his will. He lollygags but eventually eats it.

Little Juliette: Yummy in the Tummy--Much like her big sister, this girl loves all kinds of food.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Whew...it has been a while since I have been able to post! We had a third baby and my husband had to leave town for 8 weeks for work. Translation: Life has been crazy! BUT...I am back and Epicutie Juliette will be reviewing recipes soon!

I am nursing so I am always on the prowl for recipes with oatmeal! This recipe was inspired by a cooking light recipe.

Ingredients:

1/4 ounces all-purpose flour

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup nonfat buttermilk (we use almond milk for dairy free)

2 tablespoons butter, melted (we use canola oil for dairy free)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

Cooking spray

Steps:
1. Spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine the first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.
2. Combine milk, butter/oil, vanilla, and egg in a small bowl.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

This recipe was inspired by a Parents Magazine recipe. The original one had chunks of butternut squash whereas mine has puree; it saves me time just having purees already made vs having to cook the chunks of squash when I make this. That is how this recipe was born....

1 3/4 cups cheese (I used a mixture of part skim mozzarella and reduced fat cheddar--the high fat content is what bothers lactose intolerant folks; If I could do what I wanted I would use WHITE CHEDDAR)

Steps:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease a medium casserole dish.

Cook the elbow noodles 2 minutes less than the box says. Drain and place in a large bowl.

NOTE: You can top this with turkey bacon crumbles or buttered crumbled wheat crackers or more cheese. Get creative. This time I tried buttered crumbed wheat crackers and it added a nice texture/

Difficulty: 2 out of 5; with the puree already made this was easy peasy! I made it about an hour before I wanted to bake it, covered it in the oven and when it was almost time to eat I took the lid off and baked. You could also make this during nap time or in the morning and refrigerate until ready to bake. Increase the bake time if you refrigerate.

Timing: I would give this to mine as early as 9 months depending on their chewing abilities. Mine love finger foods so 9 months is good for mine---otherwise around 12 months is perfect!

Epicutie Rating (see left side of page for rating descriptions):

Little Joy: Yummy in the tummy! She loved the crunch--she's my one with a bit of a mature pallete. She likes lots of flavors like her mommy.

Little Asher: Yummy in the tummy! He does not have mac and cheese much because it is too much dairy but since there is not as much dairy to pasta with the squash in there, it is quite a treat! He gobbled up two hardy helpings.